Hong Kong confirms first death of patient with coronavirus
Hong Kong, Feb 4: Hong Kong on Tuesday become the second place outside of the Chinese mainland to report the death of a patient being treated for a new coronavirus that has so far claimed more than 400 lives.
Medical authorities confirmed a 39-year-old man who was being treated for the virus died on Tuesday morning.
The man was a resident of Hong Kong who had travelled last month to Wuhan, the Chinese city at the centre of the outbreak, returning home on January 23 via a high speed rail link.
Since emerging from Wuhan late last year, the coronavirus has infected 20,000 people across China and spread to more than 20 countries.
But so far only the Philippines and Hong Kong have reported a fatality outside of the Chinese mainland.
Most of the deaths in China have been in Wuhan and the rest of surrounding Hubei province, much of which has been under lockdown for almost two weeks.
Hong Kong's Hospital Authority said further details about the death would be released later on Tuesday.
Multiple local media outlets, citing medical sources, said the man had underlying health issues that had complicated his treatment.
His death came a day after Hong Kong's leader announced the closure of all but two land border crossings to the Chinese mainland in a bid to halt the spread of the virus.
Currently 15 people have tested positive for the virus in Hong Kong, many of them people who arrived in the semi-autonomous city from the mainland.
There has been growing public anger over the Hong Kong government's response to the outbreak, with calls to seal the border entirely. There is also an acute shortage of masks and a strike by some medical workers that entered its second day on Tuesday.
While Hong Kong maintains close economic and cultural links to the Chinese mainland, a seething distrust of the authorities in Beijing permeates the city.
The 2003 outbreak of the SARS virus, which Beijing initially covered up, killed almost 300 people in Hong Kong and left lasting psychological scars on the densely populated city.
Distrust and at times open hostility towards mainlanders has been worsened by years of political unrest as Hong Kongers chafe under Beijing's rule, and protest for greater democratic freedoms.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Woman's decomposed body found at rented flat in Bengaluru
Bengaluru (PTI): The body of a 34-year-old woman was found in a decomposed condition at her rented flat in Bengaluru, police said on Tuesday.
The deceased was identified as Pooja Dutta, a native of Dhanbad in Jharkhand, who was employed with a private company here, they said.
The incident in Adugodi came to light on Monday after neighbours alerted police about a foul smell emanating from her flat, police added.
Police said a team reached the spot, broke open the door and found Dutta's body in a nude and decomposed state, lying in a pool of blood. Preliminary suspicion is that the death may have occurred two to three days earlier, they said.
According to police, no death note was recovered from the spot, though torn papers were found scattered inside the house, prompting suspicion that she may have died by suicide after locking the door from inside.
The body has been sent for post-mortem examination to ascertain the exact cause of death. Once the autopsy report is received, it will be confirmed if it was a suicide or a murder, a senior police officer said, adding that all angles are being probed.
According to the landlady, Dutta had been living in the rented flat for the past three years and was last seen on April 23 when she went out to buy groceries.
The Adugodi police have registered a case of unnatural death, and further investigation is underway.
